Multi-function portable data-processing device
A cellular phone of folded type has a cover panel and a base panel coupled by a hinge for swiveling of the cover panel between a folded state and a developed state. The base panel mounts thereon a touch-sensitive panel whereas the cover panel mounts an image projector for projecting an image of keyboard information onto the touch-sensitive panel. The keyboard information includes a label for each of the keypads for designating the function of the keypad, and switched based on the input mode of the cellular phone.
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(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable data-processing device, and more particularly, to a multi-function portable data-processing device allowing an improved key input operation.
(b) Description of the Related Art
It is desired that portable data-processing devices, such as a cellular phone or personal digital assistant, have lighter weight as well as multiple functions. For example, the cellular phone generally has functions of telephone directory, receiving/transmitting e-mails and internet accessing besides the ordinary telephone function. For achieving the ordinary telephone function, it is generally sufficient that the cellular phone have a numerical keyboard. On the other hand, for achieving the telephone directory function or e-mail receiving/transmitting function, letter keyboards should be provided for inputting letters such as alphabetic characters or other characters. For a practical view point, however, it is generally impossible for the cellular phone having a limited scale to mount thereon such a letter keyboard besides the numerical keyboard. Thus, the cellular phone generally includes at most a numerical keyboard including numerical keypads for typing numerical characters including zero to nine, # keypad, * keypad, and some limited functional keypads on the operational panel which is disposed separately from a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit. Each of letters or symbols is allocated to one of these keypads, which enters different characters or symbols after iterative depression thereof to thereby reduce the number of keypads on the cellular phone.
Some portable data-processing device on the market has a touch-sensitive panel provided on the LCD unit, which generally represents thereon typed letters, telephone number or the contents of the e-mail. The touch-sensitive panel has a specific transparent film which is either a conductive film or a resistor film having a plurality of labeled portions to be depressed or touched, to allow execution of a specified function allocated to each labeled portion.
It should be noted however that, if the LCD unit provided as a single display unit on the cellular phone has a touch-sensitive panel function thereon, there arises an inconvenience that the ordinary representation on the screen of the LCD unit is difficult to observe. In addition, when the touch-sensitive panel is to be used as an input device on the screen of the LCD unit, all or some part of the screen of the LCD unit represents images for the touch-sensitive panel to nullify or limit the area for the ordinary representation on the screen. It may be considered to provide a dedicated LCD unit for the touch-sensitive panel function on the cellular phone in addition to a main LCD unit. In such a case, the main LCD unit can represent an ordinary image on the screen thereof even in the case where a plurality of functions are allocated to a single keypad or a full-keyboard is provided on the touch-sensitive panel. This increases the dimensions of the cellular phone however, and thus is difficult to employ.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a portable data-processing device having multiple functions without providing a touch-sensitive panel function on a LCD unit or using a dedicated LCD unit for the touch-sensitive panel.
The present invention provides a portable data-processing device including a panel body having a front surface used for an input operation, an image projector for projecting a keyboard image including information of a keyboard onto the front surface, a control unit for detecting a function specified by an input operation on the front surface based on a location of the input operation.
In accordance with the portable data-processing device of the present invention, the image projector projecting an image of the keyboard information allows the user to input data by touching a desired keypad in the projected image of the keyboard, whereby the portable data-processing device need not have a dedicated LCD unit for a touch-sensitive panel or a touch-sensitive panel function on a LCD unit.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings.
Now, the present invention is more specifically described with reference to accompanying drawings, wherein similar constituent elements are designated by similar reference numerals.
Referring to
The cellular phone, generally designated by numeral 10, includes a cover panel 10a and a base panel 10b coupled by a hinge 11 at the edges of both the panels 10a and 10b. The hinge 11 allows the cover panel 10a to be turned around the hinge 11 with respect to the base panel 10b between a folded state of the cellular phone 10 and a developed state thereof. The angle between both the panels 10a and 10b may be set at any desired angle by hand between substantially zero degree in the folded state and substantially 180 degrees in the full-developed state. The cover panel 10a mounts a LCD unit 13 of either monochrome or color on the front surface 12 of the cover panel 10a, i.e., inner surface opposing the base panel 10b in the folded state. The cover panel 10a also mounts thereon an image projector 14, an antenna 15, and a speaker 16 or earphone.
The base panel 10b has a touch-sensitive panel 18 and a microphone 19 on the front surface 17 thereof, i.e., the inner surface opposing the cover panel 10a in the folded state. The touch-sensitive panel 18 is plain and of solid color, and has no print of numerals or symbols on the key-input locations. In other words, the touch-sensitive panel has a plurality of unspecified key-input locations. Thus, user cannot know which location corresponds to a specific input function on the touch-sensitive panel 18 in the off-state of the image projector 14.
When user wishes to input some data on the touch-sensitive panel 18, the user determines a specific angle between the cover panel 10a and the base panel 10b to allow the image projector 14 to project a keyboard image 20 onto the touch-sensitive panel 18 by using laser beams etc. The keyboard image 20 projected on the touch-sensitive panel 18 includes an image of arrangement of the keypads for inputting numerals and symbols, images of pictures, letters and simple sentences in association with the keypads, including labels and/or specific functions of the keypads. The projected keyboard image is switched based on the mode of the input operation, such as a numeral, symbol or letter input mode. The user touches the location of a keypad in the projected image of the keyboard based on the label corresponding to a desired function. The surface of the touch-sensitive panel 18 used as a screen for the projected image should have a color or surface treatment which allows the user to clearly observe the projected image. In this respect, a black or red surface or a shiny surface is not preferable. It is preferable that the front surface of the touch-sensitive panel 18 have a white color and be subjected to an antireflection treatment.
In an alternative, the touch-sensitive panel 18 has a plurality of specified key-input locations such as obtained by printing the shapes of the keypads on the front surface. In this case, the keyboard image includes only a label projected on each specified location for indicating the function of the each specified location.
Referring to
Referring to
Depending on the presence or absence of the voltages applied between the lading pad 32 and the address electrodes 33a and 33b, the micromirror body 36 swivels about the hinges 35a and 35b approximately by ±10 degrees. For example, the micromirror body 36 reflects the light from the light source 21 toward the touch-sensitive panel 18 when it resides at a swivel angle of +10 degrees, and reflects the light away from the touch-sensitive panel 18 when it resides at a swivel angle of −10 degrees. In short, presence or absence of the image projection by the image projector 14 onto the touch-sensitive panel 18 depends on the swivel angle of the micromirror body 36.
The DMD IC reflects the light from the light source 21 and projects an image having desired keyboard information onto the touch-sensitive panel 18, the desired keyboard information being controlled by the voltages applied between the address electrodes 33a and 33b and the landing pad 32 of the micromirrors 30. The image projector 14 scans the touch-sensitive panel 18 with the keyboard image similarly to a projection-type television.
In
If a semiconductor laser device is used as the light source 21, there is a possibility that the reflected laser impinges on the eye of the user for a long time, which is undesirable. This may be avoided by setting the angle between the cover panel 10a and the base panel 10b at a specified angle. The specified angle is detected by the angle sensor on the hinge 11 during development of the cellular phone 10 for allowing the image projector 14 to project the keyboard image 20, and this angle is maintained by a spring function of the hinge 11. Thus, the projection by the image projector 14 is directed toward the touch-sensitive panel 18 at any time, not toward the eye of the user.
Referring to
The angle sensor 41 is provided on the hinge 11, and as described before, detects the specified angle being formed between the cover panel 10a and the base panel 10b during development of the cellular phone 10 to generate an angle signal 46, which indicates that a suitable angle is formed for projection of the keyboard image 20 by the image projector 14. Examples of the angle sensor 41 used herein include an optical device having a light emitting element and a light receiving element and having an ON/OFF function or encoder function, a mechanical sensor such as a mechanical switch having an ON/OFF function, a mechanical or electrical resistance sensor detecting a mechanical friction or an electric resistance, and a mercury switch detecting the specified angle to operate in an ON/OFF function.
In operation of the control system of the cellular phone 10, when the user develops the cellular phone 10 from the folded state, the angle sensor 41 generates an angle signal 46 after detecting the specified angle, and delivers the angle signal 46 to the main control unit 40. The main control unit 40 allows the light source driver 42 to turn on the light source 21, which emits light 22 continuously. The main control unit 40 also allows the image data generator 43 to generate image data 47 which includes information of the initial arrangement of the keyboard, which is generally used directly after the cellular phone 10 is developed. The micromirror controller 45 drives each micromirror 36 in the DMD IC of the reflector 23 based on the image data 47 generated by the image data generator 43, to allow the reflector 23 to form the image 20 of the initial keyboard information. The image 20 of the keyboard information includes limited information needed at each stage of key operation, to thereby simplify the projected image. The input mode may be iteratively switched by iteratively touching a specified keypad such as * keypad.
The image 20 of the keyboard information is projected onto the touch-sensitive panel 18 to represent a keyboard image such as shown in
To save the power of the battery in the cellular phone 10, the image projection 20 by the image projector 14 is stopped after a specified time length is elapsed, which is somewhat longer than the mean time length needed for a key input operation by an average user. In addition, when the cellular phone 10 is folded after the developed state, the image projection 20 by the image projector 14 is stopped assuming that the user ended the input operation for the cellular phone 10.
In the present embodiment, a dedicated LCD unit for the touch-sensitive panel 18 is not needed in the cellular phone 10, thereby suppressing the increase of the scale of the cellular phone 10. In addition, a variety of different images or modes for the keyboard information can be provided by changing the keyboard arrangement, wherein each image corresponds to a single arrangement of the keyboard.
For example, a numerical keypad “2” corresponds to a variety of key functions including typing numeral “2”, characters “A”, “B” or “C” and other letters in a conventional keyboard, whereas each keypad in the projected image of the keyboard information corresponds to a single key function at the time of an input operation in the present embodiment. Further, the touch-sensitive panel 18 has a flat front surface for touching, differently from the ordinary keyboard, and accordingly, the projected image can be observed without a shadow such as caused by the ordinary keypad except for the shadow caused by hands of the user, for any mode of the projected image 20.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
In the third embodiment of
The initial keyboard arrangement specifies an ordinary numerical keyboard, such as shown in
By the configuration of the third embodiment, the base panel 10b, which does not mount either the touch-sensitive panel or the keyboard on the front panel 17 thereof, can be used for receiving therein other electric parts, whereby the dimensions of the cellular phone 10 can be reduced, especially in the thickness of the base panel 10b.
In the above embodiments the depicted cellular phones are of folded type; however, the cellular phone according to the present invention may be of a single panel type (flat panel type). For example, the cellular phones in the first and second embodiments may be such that the image projector 14 is provided on a pole coupled to the single panel body for swiveling, and is shifted over the touch-sensitive panel 18 or the keyboard 50 by the pole upon an input operation by the user.
Referring to
The keyboard image 20 includes only labels of the keypads in the depicted example, wherein a keyboard 50 is provided on the panel body 10c. The keyboard 50 may be replaced by a touch-sensitive panel such as 18 shown in
In the cellular phone shown in
In the depicted example of the fourth embodiment, the L-shape arm 10d is coupled to the side surface of the panel body 10c; however, the L-shape arm 10d may be provided on the other surface of the panel body 10c, for example, on the top surface thereof. In this case, the L-shape arm 10d is swiveled in another direction such as normal to the depicted example. The L-shape arm 10d may be replaced by a telescope rod having a configuration similar to the antenna. The touch-sensitive panel, actual keyboard or image keyboard as described above may be operated by a pen having a sharp tip instead of the finger. The portable data-processing device of the present invention may be a personal handy phone, a personal digital assistant etc. so long as the portable data-processing device receives input information from the keyboard function.
Since the above embodiments are described only for examples, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications or alterations can be easily made therefrom by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A portable data-processing device comprising:
- a panel body having a front surface used for an input operation;
- an image projector for projecting a keyboard image including information of a keyboard onto said front surface;
- a control unit for detecting a function specified by an input operation on said front surface based on a location of said input operation; and
- a camera having a field of view overlapping an area of said keyboard image,
- wherein said control unit detects the input operation based on an image signal obtained by said camera,
- wherein said panel body includes a cover panel and a base panel coupled with a hinge,
- said cover panel mounts said image projector and said camera, and said base panel mounts said front surface.
2. A portable data-processing device comprising:
- a panel body having a front surface used for an input operation;
- an image projector for projecting a keyboard image including information of a keyboard onto said front surface;
- a control unit for detecting a function specified by an input operation on said front surface based on a location of said input operation; and
- an arm for mounting said image projector, wherein said arm is coupled to said panel body for swiveling.
3. A portable data-processing device comprising:
- a panel body having a front surface used for an input operation;
- an image projector for projecting a keyboard image including information of a keyboard onto said front surface; and
- a control unit for detecting a function specified by an input operation on said front surface based on a location of said input operation,
- wherein said panel body includes a cover panel and a base panel coupled with a hinge, said cover panel mounts said image projector, and said base panel mounts said front surface.
4. The portable data-processing device according to claim 1, wherein said image projector projects said keyboard image when an angle of said cover panel with respect to said base panel becomes a specified angle.
5. The portable data-processing device according to claim 1, wherein said image projector includes a light source and a reflector having a plurality of micromirrors each controlled by said information of the keyboard.
6. The portable data-processing device according to claim 1, wherein said portable data-processing device is a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant or a personal handy phone.
7. The portable data-processing device according to claim 1, wherein said keyboard image includes images of keypads, pictures, sentences and/or labels for said keypads.
8. The portable data-processing device according to claim 1, wherein said image projector projects a selected one of a plurality of keyboard images.
9. The portable data-processing device according to claim 2, wherein said image projector includes a light source and a reflector having a plurality of micromirrors each controlled by said information of the keyboard.
10. The portable data-processing device according to claim 2, wherein said portable data-processing device is a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant or a personal handy phone.
11. The portable data-processing device according to claim 2, wherein said keyboard image includes images of keypads, pictures, sentences and/or labels for said keypads.
12. The portable data-processing device according to claim 2, wherein said image projector projects a selected one of a plurality of keyboard images.
13. The portable data-processing device according to claim 3, wherein said image projector includes a light source and a reflector having a plurality of micromirrors each controlled by said information of the keyboard.
14. The portable data-processing device according to claim 3, wherein said portable data-processing device is a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant or a personal handy phone.
15. The portable data-processing device according to claim 3, wherein said keyboard image includes images of keypads, pictures, sentences and/or labels for said keypads.
16. The portable data-processing device according to claim 3, wherein said image projector projects a selected one of a plurality of keyboard images.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Oct 31, 2002
Date of Patent: Mar 21, 2006
Patent Publication Number: 20030092470
Assignee: NEC Corporation (Tokyo)
Inventor: Hiroshi Kurakane (Tokyo)
Primary Examiner: Nay Maung
Assistant Examiner: Tu X. Nguyen
Attorney: Foley & Lardner LLP
Application Number: 10/284,324
International Classification: H04B 1/38 (20060101);